JPCERT/CC Blog: #JPCERT newstag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:weblog-3031932017-08-04T10:06:20+09:00Observations on computer security from the Japanese national CERTWhat the Avalanche Botnet Takedown Revealed: Banking Trojan Infection in Japantag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-581562102017-08-04T10:06:20+09:002017-08-04T10:06:20+09:00Internet banking services across the globe have been exposed to the threat by unauthorized money transfers and suffering large-scale losses. In this landscape, an operation led by international law enforcement agencies has been in effect since November 2016 to capture...JPCERT

Internet banking services across the globe have been exposed to the threat by unauthorized money transfers and suffering large-scale losses.

In this landscape, an operation led by international law enforcement agencies has been in effect since November 2016 to capture criminal groups conducting unauthorised online banking transfers and dismantle the attack infrastructure (the Avalanche botnet). JPCERT/CC is one of the many supporters of this operation.

This blog entry presents how JPCERT/CC supports this operation and the current state of malware infection in Japan revealed through our local coordination.

JPCERT/CC’s activities in the operation

Some organizations in support of this operation register domains related to the Avalanche botnet to observe communication between any infected devices and the DNS sinkhole. From all the observed data, CERT-Bund (the National CSIRT of Germany) provides information related to Japanese networks to JPCERT/CC. We then notify administrators of the infected hosts to request investigation and coordination to address the issue.

Characteristics of infected devices in Japan

Figure 1 shows the number of malware infected hosts linked to the Avalanche botnet, which were observed between 5 December 2016 and 31 May 2017. Note that extreme spikes caused by irregularities such as dates without any received data are excluded from the graph.

Figure 1: Number of malware infected hosts in Japan (per day)

In December 2016, when we first received data on the Avalanche botnet, there was a daily average of about 17,000 hosts communicating with the DNS sinkhole. However, it decreased to about 11,000 hosts per day at the end of May 2017, thanks to cooperation from our local partners.

In addition, multiple malware families have been observed within the Avalanche botnet. From the data, JPCERT/CC received between 5 December and 4 January, the ratio of malware observed in Japan was as follows:

Figure 2: Ratio of malware (linked to the Avalanche botnet) found in infected hosts in Japan

Rovnix, KINS, Shiotob (a.k.a. URLZone, Bebloh) are known as malware that harvest credentials for Internet banking services. We have confirmed that Rovnix and Shiotob were distributed as attachments to spam emails written in Japanese in 2016.

Conclusion

Through this operation, many infected hosts in Japan have been isolated from the botnet, which resulted in the decreasing trends as in Figure 1. However, besides the malware families hosted in the Avalanche botnet, other types of banking trojans such as Ursnif (or DreamBot) have also been distributed recently through spam emails written in Japanese. JPCERT/CC continues to alert local constituents about these threats.

- Shintaro Tanaka

(Translated by Yukako Uchida)

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Research Report Released: Detecting Lateral Movement through Tracking Event Logstag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-580829262017-06-12T14:31:44+09:002017-06-12T14:31:44+09:00JPCERT/CC has been seeing a number of APT intrusions where attackers compromise a host with malware then moving laterally inside network in order to steal confidential information. For lateral movement, attackers use tools downloaded on infected hosts and Windows commands....JPCERT

JPCERT/CC has been seeing a number of APT intrusions where attackers compromise a host with malware then moving laterally inside network in order to steal confidential information. For lateral movement, attackers use tools downloaded on infected hosts and Windows commands.

In incident investigation, traces of tool and command executions are examined through logs. For an effective incident investigation, a reference about logs recorded upon tool and command executions would be useful.

JPCERT/CC conducted a research on typical tools and commands that attackers use after intrusion, and traces that they leave on Windows when executed. The result of the research is available on the report below:

Intended Audience

This report is designed for technical staff including those responsible for initial investigation of incidents. Even without forensic software or knowledge in forensics, readers capable of examining event logs and registry entries can understand the contents.

Tools and Commands

44 typical tools and commands have been featured on the report (as described in Appendix A) based on what JPCERT/CC has seen in multiple incident cases. Since these tools and commands are used by multiple attackers, it is likely that analysts encounter some of them during incident investigation.

Need for Detailed Logs

Under the default configuration of Windows, many of these tools and commands are not logged. In order to investigate what attackers did during the incident, preparation for log retention is necessary. The report describes how to record tools and command executions by setting audit policy and installing Sysmon. Other than the methods explained in the report, it is also possible to collect such logs with audit applications or EDR products.

Way Forward

We are planning to examine other tools and commands as well. In addition to event logs and registry entries, we will also look into forensic artifacts such as MFT and journal files.

We welcome any feedback from you at global-cc [at] jpcert.or.jp.

- Shusei Tomonaga

(Translated by Yukako Uchida)

Appendix A: Examined Commands and Tools

Table 1: List of Examined Commands and Tools

Attacker's Purpose of Using Tool

Tool

Command execution

PsExec

wmic

PowerShell

wmiexec.vbs

BeginX

winrm

at

winrs

BITS

Obtaining password hash

PWDump7

Quarks PwDump

mimikatz

WCE

gsecdump

lslsass

Find-GPOPasswords.ps1

Mail PassView

WebBrowserPassView

Remote Desktop PassView

PWDumpX

Malicious communication relay (Packet tunneling)

Htran

Fake wpad

Remote login

RDP

Pass-the-hash Pass-the-ticket

WCE

mimikatz

Escalation to SYSTEM privilege

MS14-058 Exploit

MS15-078 Exploit

Privilege escalation

SDB UAC Bypass

Capturing domain administrator rights account

MS14-068 Exploit

Golden Ticket (mimikatz)

Silver Ticket (mimikatz)

Capturing Active Directory database(Creating a domain administrator user or adding it to an administrator group)

ntdsutil

vssadmin

Adding or deleting a user group

net user

File sharing

net use

net share

icacls

Deleting evidence

sdelete

timestomp

Deleting event log

wevtutil

Obtaining account information

csvde

ldifde

dsquery

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Fact-finding Report on the Establishment and Operation of CSIRTs in Japantag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-580532302017-05-12T16:33:48+09:002017-05-12T16:42:40+09:00Hello, this is Misaki Kimura from Watch and Warning Group. JPCERT/CC conducted “Survey on the Establishment and Operation of CSIRTs in Japan” in the end of 2015. Following the Japanese report released in 2016, we have just released the English...JPCERT

Hello, this is Misaki Kimura from Watch and Warning Group.

JPCERT/CC conducted “Survey on the Establishment and Operation of CSIRTs in Japan” in the end of 2015. Following the Japanese report released in 2016, we have just released the English version of the report on JPCERT/CC website to share the outcomes with the information security community member all around the globe. Although the basis of social composition, culture, organizational constitution and so on may differ in each economy, we hope that this document will serve as a useful reference in terms of establishing a CSIRT or comparing the situation with those organizations in overseas.

Here in this blog will cover an executive summary of the report.

Background of the survey

Cyber attacks in recent years have become increasingly diverse in terms of their aims, targets, and TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) used that the impact can be large enough to shake the foundation of a business. One approach that is drawing attention is to establish a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) that will serve as the linchpin of an organization to effectively handle security incidents. Cybersecurity Management Guidelines released from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in December 2015 also referred to the need to establish CSIRTs, and this has been boosting the number of CSIRTs in Japan.

Cyber security communities, including the CSIRT community, are quite active in Japan. Nippon CSIRT Association (NCA) is the venue for local CSIRTs to come together for information sharing and joint activities, which has 232 member organizations (as of May 2017). JPCERT/CC conducted the survey targeting 66 organizations which belongs to NCA with an aim to assist those who wish to establish a new CSIRT by compiling the facts of CSIRT activities in various local organizations. The survey took place in December 2015, by means of a questionnaire and interviews, covering questions on organizational structure, scale, functions, policies and other various aspects of CSIRTs. Here below will introduce some interesting findings described in the report.

Items to be defined upon establishing a CSIRT

Business activities, scales, department structures, and anticipated risks differ according to the organization. For this reason, based on the results of the survey, the following six items were identified as matters that organizations should define upon establishing an internal CSIRT.

Scope of services provided by CSIRTs

Authority granted to CSIRTs

Deployment and members of CSIRTs

Point(s) of contact (PoC)

Reporting structure to effectively communicate the effects of CSIRT activities within the company

Periodic review of CSIRT activities

Among these, I would like to highlight a few findings of the survey, which are considered noteworthy for organizations in overseas as followings;

Scope of services provided by CSIRTs

A CSIRT is required to receive, review and respond to various incident reports. Therefore, scope of its service such as contents, targets, range of responsibility, and so forth need to be considered.

NCA categorizes services offered by CSIRTs roughly into the following three types: reactive services, proactive services, and security quality control services. Of these three categories, the survey results identified the main services provided by CSIRTs in each category as follows;

- Reactive services

More than 80% answered "Incident handling," "Issuing security alerts" "Log Analysis" and "Vulnerability handling" are provided to respond promptly in the event of an incident

- Proactive services

More than 80% answered "Security warning announcement” is provided ahead of an incident

Nearly 70% answered "Provision of security related information" and "Intrusion detection" are provided to monitor any signs of an attack

- Security quality control services

More than 70% answered "Conducting awareness raising activity", "Organizing educational programs" and "Consulting security related issues" as a service aimed at increasing the knowledge and skills to respond to cyber security

In some CSIRTs, all of these services are provided whereas some CSIRTs only provide one or two of those. It is not the variety of services they provide that matters to a CSIRT, but the capability to provide the kinds of services that the organization needs.

Also, the results of the survey showed that about 60% of the organizations has documented their service definition, and over 80% of the organizations has defined and documented their security policies that were approved by the management.

Authority granted to CSIRTs

In responding to security incidents, it is necessary as an organization to make appropriate and timely decisions. While CSIRTs are in a position to provide assistance to departments or persons for decision-making, it is important to understand about up to what point a CSIRT authority is granted.

For example, when a system needs to be suspended for risk avoidance in the event of an urgent incident, about 12% of the CSIRTs answered that they themselves have the authority to order the systems to be stopped, while 85% of the CSIRTs answered that they do not have the authority to order but are in a position that allows them to advise on the decision-making.

Figure 1. Authority of the CSIRT in the event of an incident

These results show that not so many organizations possess a strong authority in decision-making. However, some CSIRTs answered in the interview that they do not necessarily need to have such a powerful authority as to suspend systems in order to function effectively as a CSIRT. What matters to them is how effectively can the CSIRT collaborate with the management level to expedite accurate and rapid business decision.

Incident handling and Escalation

In case of an incident, an escalation process must be clearly defined, documented and officially approved to ensure that the incident is directed towards appropriate departments. The result shows that 74% of the CSIRTs have these processes implemented towards management, 52% implemented towards public relations department, and 50% implemented towards legal department. This indicates that CSIRTs are working closely with the management level in case of an incident, but more effort can be taken towards other related departments as well.

Information Sharing

It is essential for CSIRTs to share information and cooperates with other departments not only within the organization but also with other external partners such as other CSIRTs. Joining the information sharing framework allows the team to obtain and respond to a cyber threat in an effective way that it ultimately helps to protect the organization.

The result shows that all the survey respondents participate in more than one framework for information sharing. Specific frameworks that they join are WAISE (Watch and Warning Analysis Information for Security Experts - operated by JPCERT/CC), CCI (Counter Cyber Intelligence - operated by National Police Agency), working groups of Financials ISAC Japan, J-CSIP (Initiative for Cyber Security Information sharing Partnership of Japan - operated by Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan) and so on.

When asked about the primary methods of expression used for sharing information, all the respondents selected text format. At the time when this survey was conducted (December 2015), some CSIRTs have already implemented STIX/TAXII, which is a globally recognized standard for incident information sharing. The protocol has been gradually accepted by an increasing number of CSIRTs over the two years after the survey.

Figure 2. Primary method(s) of expression used for sharing information

Information sharing and collaboration requires investment of time and technical resources, however, it benefits by far than negatives. Some of the respondents have said in the interview that information sharing with other CSIRTs enables them to acquire knowledge and exchange insights, which helps to keep up the motivation of their CSIRT members. The importance of building trust relationships with other CSIRTs was also pointed out by other interviewees. They spoke of participating NCA and other community activities had provided opportunities to reframe how they interact with their organizations.

Conclusion

The report points to six items that should be defined at the time of establishing an internal CSIRT. However, it does not necessarily mean that fulfilling all these conditions will ensure its activities live up to the expectations of the organization. For the sake of an internal CSIRT to function effectively, it is extremely important that the team shares information and cooperates with other departments within the organization and other CSIRTs. In addition, through day-to-day operations including exercises and training, as well as responding to actual incidents, we believe that newly established CSIRTs develop into a trusted and indispensable part of the organization.

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Volatility Plugin for Detecting RedLeaves Malwaretag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-580420472017-05-02T09:55:27+09:002017-05-02T09:55:33+09:00Our previous blog entry introduced details of RedLeaves, a type of malware used for targeted attacks. Since then, we’ve seen reports including those from US-CERT that Management Service Providers (MSPs) have been targeted [1] [2]. In the US-CERT report, some...JPCERT

Our previous blog entry introduced details of RedLeaves, a type of malware used for targeted attacks. Since then, we’ve seen reports including those from US-CERT that Management Service Providers (MSPs) have been targeted [1] [2]. In the US-CERT report, some instances have been identified where RedLeaves malware has only been found within memory with no on-disk evidence because of the behavior of self-elimination after the infection.

To verify the infection without on-disk evidence, investigation needs to be conducted through memory dump or logs (e.g. proxy logs) stored in network devices.

This article introduces a tool to detect RedLeaves in the memory.

It is available on GitHub:

JPCERTCC/aa-tools · GitHub

https://github.com/JPCERTCC/aa-tools/blob/master/redleavesscan.py

Tool Details

The tool works as a plugin for The Volatility Framework (hereafter “Volatility”), a memory forensic tool. redleavesscan.py has the following functions:

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Board game on Cyber Security for Awareness Raisingtag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-579987292017-03-28T11:34:39+09:002017-03-28T11:34:39+09:00Hi this is Sho Aoki from Watch and Warning Group. Have you ever tried “game-based learning”? Learning through games is useful since it is not only fun and easy, but also provides opportunities for thinking. It has been applied widely...JPCERT

Hi this is Sho Aoki from Watch and Warning Group.

Have you ever tried “game-based learning”?

Learning through games is useful since it is not only fun and easy, but also provides opportunities for thinking. It has been applied widely for educational purposes. In the area of cyber security as well, there are board games released from security vendors, and they have been conducted at schools and companies.

Today I would like to introduce “SEC WEREWOLF”.

Board game package

This board game was released by Japan Network Security Association (JNSA) [1], which is an NPO consisting of information security related organizations (mainly vendors) in Japan. They aim to raise awareness and provide information security solutions through various activities. One of their Working Group activities is to promote game-based learning, where this board game was developed. JPCERT/CC is also part of this Working Group.

“SEC WEREWOLF” is a board game based on a famous party game “Werewolf” (also known as “Mafia”), which is a communication type game between a group of “villagers” and “werewolves” who attack villagers. Players probe other players in an attempt to find enemies to eliminate. In “SEC WEREWOLF”, “villagers” work as “CSIRT members” in an organisation, while “werewolves” are the evils in the organisation who are engaged in corruption.

STORY

“Corrupt workers” have been stealing confidential information of their organisation with the assistance from “Black hat hackers” and gaining profit out of the information. However, the management finds out about the malicious act. “Corrupt workers”, who have been dissatisfied about the company’s treatment, try to put the blame on other employees and get them fired. A CSIRT is launched to retrieve a peaceful workplace and deal with issues with an aim to get rid of the corrupt workers.

HOW TO PLAY (Overview)

Players pick up a role card to decide which team they belong to (CSIRT or attackers)

All the players have a conversation without disclosing their roles to figure out who are the “corrupt workers”. “Corrupt workers” will also pretend to be a CSIRT member.

Out of the conversation, each player points out the person who they think is the “corrupt worker” at the end of the turn. The person who has the higher number of votes is dismissed from the game. “Corrupt workers” secretly put the blame to a CSIRT member to get them out of the game.

Process 2 and 3 will be repeated until either of the following conditions is met:

a) All the “corrupt workers” are dismissed (CSIRT wins)

b) The number of remaining “corrupt workers” becomes the same as CSIRT members (“Corrupt workers” win)

Among the board games on cyber security, “SEC WEREWOLF” is relatively easy and suitable for beginners since there is not much prerequisite. This game presents the concept of cyber security and roles within CSIRTs (some role cards have different technical skills). Furthermore, it comes with post-game materials to learn about internal fraud by looking back on how a “corrupt worker” would behave and what CSIRT members needed to do about it. It is also a good material to learn what kind of personnel a CSIRT would need to have.

A model of internal fraud “the Fraud Triangle”, was proposed by D.R. Cressey, a criminologist from the US. It suggests that internal fraud can occur when the following three factors are present: Perceived unshareable financial need, Perceived opportunity and Rationalisation [2].

The post-game material provides a review of the game from the above three perspectives. Also, by looking back at the conversation that occurred during the game, the facilitator can guide participants to further discuss lessons learned from the game. Consequently, they can consider what sort of environment they need to establish/maintain to keep their workplace from such fraud.

Facilitator explaining about internal fraud based on the triangle

The Working Group designed this game for people who are not familiar with cyber security. It is often said that cyber security operations are difficult to draw attention from employees unless they are actually involved. Given the current situation where cyber security is a hot topic not only for organisations but also for individuals, it is important to raise security awareness to wide range of employees and users. This board game provides a good opportunity to familiarise the players with the concept of cyber security and the role of CSIRTs.

Role cards

Trial at JPCERT/CC

To fully utilise this game, it is also important to develop game facilitators. This role is important in presenting the knowhow in cyber security, how CSIRTs work and the components of CSIRT employees, besides just leading the game.

There is another board game about initial response to cyber incidents, which the Working Group is planning to release in the coming Fiscal Year. JPCERT/CC is willing to assist awareness raising activities through the Working Group.

- Sho Aoki

Translated by Yukako Uchida

Reference:

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Malware Clustering using impfuzzy and Network Analysis - impfuzzy for Neo4j -tag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-579857612017-03-23T15:05:29+09:002017-09-11T18:24:00+09:00Hi again, this is Shusei Tomonaga from the Analysis Center. This entry introduces a malware clustering tool “impfuzzy for Neo4j” developed by JPCERT/CC. Overview of impfuzzy for Neo4j impfuzzy for Neo4j is a tool to visualise results of malware clustering...JPCERT

Hi again, this is Shusei Tomonaga from the Analysis Center.

This entry introduces a malware clustering tool “impfuzzy for Neo4j” developed by JPCERT/CC.

Overview of impfuzzy for Neo4j

impfuzzy for Neo4j is a tool to visualise results of malware clustering using a graph database, Neo4j. A graph database is a database for handling data structure comprised of records (nodes) and relations among the records. Neo4j provides functions to visualise registered nodes and relations in a graph.

impfuzzy for Neo4j operates in the following sequence:

Calculate the similarity of malware using impfuzzy

Generate a graph (network) based on the similarity

Conduct network analysis over the graph (clustering)

Register and visualise the clustering results on Neo4j database

First, the tool calculates the similarity of malware using impfuzzy; the techniques to estimate the similarity of Windows executables based on a hash value generated from Import API. impfuzzy was introduced in our blog article before, so please take a look for further details.

After that, a graph is generated by connecting nodes that were judged to be similar based on the impfuzzy results. The graph is then analysed using Louvain method [1]. This is one of the methods to cluster network graphs, which outperforms other algorithms in speed. With this analysis, malware is automatically classified into groups.

Finally, the information of analysed malware and its group is registered in Neo4j database.

Figure 1 describes the clustering result of Emdivi malware using impfuzzy for Neo4j.

Figure 1: Clustering result of Emdivi by impfuzzy for Neo4j

In this graph, types of malware (pink nodes) that are judged to be similar are connected with lines. From the above visualisation, it is clear that there are several groups of their variants with high similarity.

Since impfuzzy for Neo4j automatically clusters related samples through network analysis, it is possible to extract samples that belong to a specific group. Figure 2 visualises the relationship of a specific group from the example in Figure 1. The numbers on the grey lines (grey edges) between samples indicate the similarity of the malware in the range from 0 to 100 (the higher the number is, the more similar the samples are).

Figure 2: Visualisation results of samples belonging to a specific group

How to obtain and use impfuzzy for Neo4j

The tool is available on GitHub. Please refer to the following webpage:

In the following example, malware is stored in the folder ‘Emdivi’ which is passed as a parameter.

Figure 3: impfuzzy for Neo4j execution result

Clustering results are registered in Neo4j database. Visualisation is available through the web interface of Neo4j, which is accessible from the URL below (The following is an example of Neo4j installed in a local environment).

http://localhost:7474/

For visualising a graph of clustering results, a Cypher query (a command to operate Neo4j database) needs to be executed through the web interface. Figure 4 is an example of executing a Cypher query through the web interface.

Figure 4: Example of Cypher query execution

Cypher queries to execute are different depending on what kind of clustering results you would like to visualise. Below are the examples of Cypher queries to visualise different clustering results.

[Example 1] Visualise all clustering results (Figure 1 is the result of the following Cypher query)

$ MATCH (m:Malware) RETURN m

[Example 2] Visualise a group of samples with a specific MD5 hash value (Figure 2 is an example of the following Cypher query)

Summary

Clustering large amount of malware to distinguish unknown types that needs to be analysed in a quick manner is crucial in malware analysis. We hope that impfuzzy for Neo4j will help such analysis tasks.

In a future entry, we will introduce the clustering and analysis results that we gained through this tool.

When analysing Windows executable file type (PE file) malware, a tool to parse and display the PE file’s structure (hereafter “PE analysis tool”) is often used. This tool enables referring to a list of APIs that the malware imports (Import API) and functions that it exports. By analysing the data, it is possible to presume the malware’s function as in communicating with external servers or creating registry entries, etc. In this way, PE analysis tools are often used for malware analysis, however, a type of malware which has techniques to disturb operations of PE analysis tools has already been observed [1].

This entry introduces techniques to deceive analysts by displaying incorrect information in the Import API, and measures to implement in PE analysis tools against the issue.

INT (Import Name Table) and IAT (Import Address Table)

PE files contain 2 address tables related to Import API – INT and IAT. INT describes the address of the area which stores API names imported by the PE file. IAT is used when actually calling an API, and writes an entry address of the functions corresponding to the API when the module which exports the function is loaded. For more information about PE file formats, please refer to Microsoft’s website [2].

NT header in a PE file describes various kinds of information required for executing the file. NT header is structured as “IMAGE_NT_HEADERS”, and INT and IAT can be identified by tracing the address in “IMAGE_DATA_DIRECTORY” of Optional Header within the structure (Figure 1) [3].

Figure 1: INT and IAT related section within NT header in a PE file

The Name field of “IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME” structure, which is referred to by INT, describes importing API names as a string. Generally, IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME lists API names in a sequence as in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Example of IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME

INT Spoofing

IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME contains strings specifying API names. Even if someone tries to alter the API name in IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME to disguise it as another PE file, it would not be executed properly since it would import unintended API when executing the PE file. As the red part in Figure 3 indicates, however, if the PE file is modified by adding new API names at the end of the INT to existing API names within the INT, it will not attempt to load a module since the IAT does not have a field that stores the entry address of the functions corresponding to the added API name. If PE analysis tools display such deliberately added API names, analysts would believe that the PE file has new APIs that is imported, which would confuse the analysis.

Figure 3: Example of INT spoofing

Check for INT-spoofed PE files using PE analysis tools

Many of the existing PE analysis tools refer to only INT when listing Import API, and recognise and display strings in IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME as API names. When handling normal PE files, there is no issues with the behaviour since importing API addresses corresponding to the strings in IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME, are written in the IAT.

However, if INT is spoofed by the above mentioned method, extra APIs are also listed. As an experiment, JPCERT/CC generated some INT-spoofed PE files, and tested how their Import API would be displayed in several PE analysis tools. As a result, many of them displayed extra APIs that are not actually imported.

Figure 4: Analysis examples of INT-spoofed executable files on PE analysis tools (Indicates the number of Import API increased due to INT spoofing)

Countermeasures against INT spoofing

One countermeasure against such spoofing would be to compare INT and IAT on a PE analysis tool and only display APIs that are actually imported (and not display added API names marked in red in the Figure 3). pyimpfuzzy, which was introduced in a past blog entry, is also a tool which performs analysis based on Import API. In its first version, there was an issue where INT-spoofed samples could not be analysed correctly. As such, the tool was updated with a new feature to compare INT and IAT, and only analyse the APIs that are actually imported.

Many PE analysis tools display strings in IMAGE_IMPORT_BY_NAME as they are. However, many debuggers and IDA refer to IATs when displaying Import API, and thus most of them do not seem to be affected by INT spoofing. When referring to the information on Import API in malware analysis, it is recommended to check APIs that are actually loaded in IAT by using a debugger, as well as INT strings.

Summary

JPCERT/CC has not yet observed any INT-spoofed samples, however, this disguising technique could possibly be abused in the near future. Automated analysis tools based on Import API may be affected by INT spoofing. As introduced above, pyimpfuzzy has been updated to a new version – please make sure that you are using the latest version (version 0.02).

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2016 in Review: Top Cyber Security Trends in Japantag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-579019142017-01-25T15:18:40+09:002017-01-25T15:18:40+09:00Hi, this is Misaki Kimura from Watch and Warning Group. Another new year has come and gone, and as I look back over about the significant security trends that took place in 2016, it is needless to mention that security...JPCERT

Hi, this is Misaki Kimura from Watch and Warning Group.

Another new year has come and gone, and as I look back over about the significant security trends that took place in 2016, it is needless to mention that security threat landscape is ever evolving and increasingly complex. As a basis for what we can prepare for 2017, I’d like to review security headlines in 2016 by referring to the activities carried out in Japan, to look into the expectations to come.

Increase in DDoS built by botnets such as Mirai

Large-scale botnets leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) devices to launch massive DDoS attacks, became a prominent topic worldwide. The Mirai botnet, which was responsible for the series of attacks in recent months, including the DDoS attacks against American journalist’s website “Krebs on Security”, and DNS provider “Dyn”, had brought a huge impact. The word “Mirai” is a Japanese word for “future”, and just as it is interpreted, since the release of Mirai source code last September, it has called a lot of concerns of what poorly secured IoT devices may bring in the future.

In response to this, a technical alert (in Japanese) was released on Japan Vulnerability Notes (JVN) to promote IoT device owners/users in Japan to secure their devices, and organizations were encouraged to place countermeasures towards DDoS attacks. In addition, JPCERT/CC has announced a security alert for awareness raising, and the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA) has also announced an alert (in Japanese) respectively.

Security guidelines concerning IoT were also published from multiple organizations during last year. “IoT Security Guide for Consumers (ver1.0)” (in Japanese) that is intended for readers such as IoT device developers and consumers to take precautions towards IoT devices was published from the Japan Network Security Association (JNSA). Furthermore, “IoT Security Guideline ver1.0” (in Japanese) was announced from the IoT Acceleration Consortium’s IoT Security Working Group, organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) becomes increasingly sophisticated

Since the Japan Pension Service hack in 2015 that led to 1.25 million cases of personal data leak, the Japanese public has been paying attention to targeted attacks than ever before. These types of attacks continued to evolve constantly by developing new tactics, techniques and procedures. Particularly in 2016, we have been observing attacks concerning to malware known as Daserf [1], Asurex [2], Sysget (aka HelloBridge, ZACOM)[3] and Elirks (aka KLURP) [4]. Though the attribution for each malware may differ, a common attack vector is observed - malware infections are attempted by convincing the user to open attachments of spear phishing emails or watering hole attacks.

Amongst all, what specifically grabbed our attention was Daserf. Not only different C2 servers were used for each targeted organization, but the C2 server for each infected device within the organization was also individual. Due to this multiplicity, blacklisting the URLs and IP addresses of C2 servers were no more an effective measure, allowing the threat actors to remain undetected for a long duration of time.

On the other hand, Elirks was also unique in terms of retrieving its C2 server’s IP address – it obtains the IP address by accessing to pre-determined microblog service or SNS. This behavior is deemed to avoid the detection of security products and to flexibly switch the C2 server specified in the content of articles posted on those legitimate services by rewriting the code in it.

Attack cases on financial theft continues to take place

According to the report (in Japanese) released by the National Police Agency (NPA), financial loss caused by illegal money transfer using Internet banking services that occurred in the first half of 2016 has been greatly reduced both in number of victims and the amount of financial loss of credit unions and corporate accounts. To be more specific, the damage amount in the first half of 2016 was 898 million Japanese yen, which decreased from the second half of 2015 (1.53 billion Japanese yen). However, in terms of personal accounts, the number of victims and amount of financial loss were witnessed at the same level as 2015 on average.

In 2016, Online Banking Trojans that steal IDs and passwords were attached to Japanese written spam emails and sent to Japanese users. Notorious Banking Trojans that were causing damages overseas such as Ursnif (aka: Gozi, Snifula) [5], Shiotob (aka: URLZONE, Bebloh) [6] and KRBANKER [7] (in Japanese), were also beginning to target online users in Japan.

In addition, ransomware continued to keep prevalent this year as well. Based on the report (in Japanese) from TrendMicro, Japanese organizations infected with ransomware in the first half of the year reached to 1,740, which was 7 times higher compared with the same time of 2015. Regarding the amount of financial loss itself, it has become the most significant security threat amongst all to Internet users.

Lastly, one more to note - 2016 was the year for JPCERT/CC to celebrate its 20th anniversary. As long as JPCERT/CC represents as the coordination center for cyber security incidents in Japan, we will continue to endeavor to create cyber space a safer place for all through cooperation and coordination with various partners around the globe. We would like to convey our gratitude for your support and cooperation, and would like to continuously devote the utmost effort in our activities.

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Update from the CyberGreen Projecttag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-578581412016-12-22T13:10:02+09:002016-12-22T13:10:02+09:00Hi, this is Moto Kawasaki from Global Coordination Division. It has been a little while since I wrote about the CyberGreen Project last time, and I would like to update the achievements of the Project. The most impressive news in...JPCERT

Hi, this is Moto Kawasaki from Global Coordination Division. It has been a little while since I wrote about the CyberGreen Project last time, and I would like to update the achievements of the Project.

If you click the Statistics tab, you'll find the Stats site that describes the Beta-2 version of the statistics with a colored map and scores by region and by AS number. These scores are based on the data from the Open Resolver Project and other data sources, as listed in the Data Inventory page. The calculation algorithm is described in the About page, and the score is a kind of density as per the formula: the natural logarithm of the number of open servers found in a region over the natural logarithm of the maximum number of nodes per country in that region, which is expressed by the score between 0 (best) and 100 (worst).

In addition to the continued efforts by the CyberGreen Project team, there was another big news: “CyberGreen Metrics v.2 Method and Report Finalized.” As described in the news page, we will see another revision in the Info and Stats sites, hopefully in early 2017.

As such, we wish you to join CyberGreen to make the Internet safer together.

Thank you very much.

- Moto Kawasaki

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A New Tool to Detect Known Malware from Memory Images – impfuzzy for Volatility –tag:bb.lekumo.jp,2003:post-578487952016-12-16T15:59:46+09:002017-09-11T18:25:01+09:00Hi again, this is Shusei Tomonaga from the Analysis Center. Today I will introduce a tool “impfuzzy for Volatility”, which JPCERT/CC has created for extracting known malware from memory images and utilises for analysis operations. Malware Detection in Memory Forensics...JPCERT

Hi again, this is Shusei Tomonaga from the Analysis Center. Today I will introduce a tool “impfuzzy for Volatility”, which JPCERT/CC has created for extracting known malware from memory images and utilises for analysis operations.

Malware Detection in Memory Forensics

To judge if a file type malware sample is a known kind, the easiest and fastest way is to check the hash value (e.g. MD5 or SHA 256) of the entire file to see if it matches any of those in malware databases. However, this method is not applicable for memory forensics. This is because executable files loaded on the memory are partially altered by the OS or the malware itself (for example, when an executable file is loaded on the memory, IAT – import address table – is replaced with the API’s address loaded on the memory), and therefore hash values of the file before and after being loaded on the memory do not match.

In this sense, for memory forensics, signature matching using Yara scan is often used for detecting known malware. In order to use this method, however, details of the malware need to be analysed and also its signature needs to be generated beforehand.

Overview and Main Features of impfuzzy for Volatility

“impfuzzy for Volatility” is a tool that solves such issues and enables extracting known malware from memory images. This tool is implemented as a plugin for The Volatility Framework (hereafter “Volatility”), a memory forensics tool. To enable detection even after information in the malware executable file is partially altered when loaded on the memory, the tool uses “impfuzzy” method which compares the similarities of Windows executable files based on hash values generated from Import API. impfuzzy was introduced in a past article on this blog.

impfuzzy for Volatility offers the following functions and is applicable for investigations using imphash [1] as well.

The executable file to compare with or the folder where it is stored can be specified as option “-e”.

By executing the above command line, similar executable files can be detected as in Figure 2 (The “Compare” field indicates the similarity by percentage).

Figure 2: Detecting similar files from memory images

Figure 2 demonstrates the example where Citadel, a type of banking malware, is detected. Citadel is usually packed and starts running by injecting unpacked code into Explorer, etc. impfuzzy for Volatility compares executable files loaded on the memory, which makes it possible to calculate hash values of unpacked samples. Therefore, similarities can be judged even for packed malware.

impfuzzy for Volatility can also detect code that is injected into processes, as well as executable files and loaded DLL files. In Figure 2, “INJECTED CODE” in the “Module Name” field indicates that there is code injected into the processes.

The following shows other options that are available in impfuzzy for Volatility.

(Example 1) Compares impfuzzy hash values listed in the file with executable files in the memory, and displays the results:

Advantages of Using impfuzzy in Memory Forensics

Even though executable files loaded on the memory are partially altered as previously discussed, their Import API remain the same. impfuzzy judges the similarity based on hash values derived from Import API of the executable files. This makes it possible to identify the same file even from executable files loaded on the memory.

Furthermore, since impfuzzy can generate hash values automatically, unlike Yara scan, there is no need to generate signatures manually.

Obtaining and Installing impfuzzy for Volatility

This tool is available on GitHub, a shared web service for software development projects. Feel free to download from the following website for your use:

When executing, impfuzzy.py needs to be installed from the aforementioned website, stored in the “contrib/plugins” folder in Volatility and then executed. (It is also possible to specify the folder where impfuzzy.py is stored using option “--plugins”.)

Summary

Memory may contain some information including malware that is not left on the hard disk, and therefore memory forensics is important in incident investigations involving malware infection. We hope that this tool is utilised as to effectively conduct investigations on memory forensics in such security incidents.